DC DJs:
In his previous four starts against him, Chicago Cubs On Saturday afternoon in Washington, D.C., DJ Hurts allowed 6 of 15 hits, 7 of 11 walks and 4 of 7 runs in his first inning of the game he pitched.
“The first innings have been tough in his last few starts,” manager Davey Martinez told reporters. Quoted from MLB.comAfter Hertz pitched a scoreless first inning (He was hit by pitch and walked two times to load the bases before finishing his 27 pitches in Atlanta.“…But I think I’m starting to settle down a little bit, start throwing strikes and making the most of my pitches,” he said last week during a game against the Braves at Truist Park.
“His pitches are really good, so keeping the ball close to the zone is key. If he gets too shaky, he’s in trouble. If you keep the ball in the zone, you’re going to get a lot of strikeouts.”
“[The first inning] That’s happened three times in a row,” Hurts said. “It’s going to stop eventually, but I’m just going to keep going. [my starts] And eventually that will change.”
Asked by reporters how he got through those early rough times and settled down, Hurts said, “You just play the zone and it all happens. [I get] Calm down and everything will play out.
“I’m not chasing anything. I just let it happen.”
Martinez said the starting pitcher will also have to deal with the emotions of playing against his former team, as he will be facing the Cubs, the team he was traded to after drafting him in the eighth round in 2019.With infielder Kevin Made) to the Nationals (Jeimer Candelario in 2023).
“He’s going to be a little rough, I mean not pitching-wise, you know, it’s his old club,” Martinez said. “But we’ve got to be able to control his rhythm, but I expect him to go out there and compete, and I know he will.”
“He might be a little anxious. We’ve got to get him through the first innings. That’s what we’ve said the last few times he’s taken the mound. He comes out there fired up and ready to go. We can just get his heart rate down, get him through the first innings, get him settled and he’ll be fine.”
Hurts, who said in spring training he wanted to show Chicago they made a mistake in trading him, pitched a quick, clean inning and avoided a walk.And hesitateHe scored the first run (10 points) in the top of the second inning, and in the third inning he struck out two of the three batters he faced, limiting the number of runs he allowed to three (no hits) on 46 pitches.
DJ Hurts, spring training: “We’re going to beat them. Or we’re going to come out and put everything on the line and go all out like a beast and show the Cubs that they screwed up a little bit.” https://t.co/xUBcKBUj82
— Bobby Blanco (@Bobby_Blanco) August 31, 2024
Hurts struck out the Cubs one after the other in the fourth inning, throwing 13 pitches for a total of 59 pitches, but the fifth inning was a complete disaster for the left-hander. He took to the mound with a 2-0 lead, but an Isaac Paredes single gave the visitors their first hit, a Michael Bush walk and a line drive single by Nico Hoerner loaded the bases with no outs, a Pete Crow-Armstrong sacrifice fly cut the lead in half at 2-1, a Christian Bethancourt RBI single tied the game at 2-2, and a grounder to the mound scored the third run to make it 3-2 for the Cubs.
That was the end for Hartz. He threw a total of 87 pitches, walked 2, struck out 5, allowed 3 hits, and gave up 4 earned runs. The fourth run was scored after Hartz had entered the home dugout, and the Cubs won 5-3 with a score of 4-2.
“You know what we talked about in the first inning,” Martinez said after the team’s second straight series loss. “He came in and pitched really well in the first inning, but then the next inning he just got the ball a little bit up in the air. So we tried to finish that inning, but we couldn’t. We threw one changeup up the middle and he gave up two runs.”
“But overall I think he threw the ball. [well]Although the number of pitches increased, he was attacking the zone.
“He was trying to make a finishing pitch, but he didn’t throw it well and the count got long.”
“When it gets to 0-2 or 1-2, [get hitters to] Pursuit,” Hertz said. Quote from MASN’s Mark Zuckerman“Staying in the zone and not stumbling,” the left-hander said, “I think it kind of bounced back to me, especially in the last innings.”
Leadoff hitter:
Davey Martinez gave CJ Abrams a break YankeesLeft-hander Carlos Rodon struggled at the plate on Wednesday night and has been in a long slump this month..184/.250/.322 line in August).
“Tomorrow is an off day. We wanted to give him a couple of days off,” he explained. “I told him he’ll likely play today and be ready to go, but we wanted to give him a rest. He’s played a lot of games. He didn’t get much off during the All-Star break. So we’re just going to give him some days off here and there.”
Manager Martinez moved rookie Dylan Cruz to the top of the Nationals’ lineup for the series finale against New York.
“He takes the ball well, he understands the strike zone, but he’s aggressive, so we want him to be a top-of-the-line hitter,” Martinez said. Quote from MLB.com reporter Jessica Camerato“I know he can walk, so I want to take him to the top.”
Martinez told reporters he would keep the new outfielder in the starting lineup against left-handed pitchers in the series opener against Chicago, and that’s exactly what happened, even though Abrams returned to the starting lineup for the first game of a three-game series against the Cubs.
Abrams batted seventh in the batting order.
“We just want to give him a little bit of a break,” the captain said of his reasoning for moving Abrams down to the seventh. “We want him to relax a little bit and do a better job at the plate. You know, he’s a hard-hitting guy. We want him to slow down a little bit. So I talked to him before we sent him out there, and he’s OK with that. And like I said, once he starts getting on base and walking batters, we want him to get back in there. But he’s got to slow down a little bit. He’s a hard-swinging guy.”
After seeing Abrams revert to bad habits at the plate, the manager decided to shake things up a bit.
“He’s got to get back to pitching down the middle of the field for strikes,” the manager said. “I know, like always, he likes to swing at the first pitch. I’ve told him, ‘I’m not telling you not to swing, especially when they throw you a fastball, but you’ve got to be in the zone and that’s where we need to be.’ But like I said, he’s worked to be a leadoff hitter and I think he’ll do that again. I just want to ease him up a little bit and let him just go out there and have fun and throw some pitches he can hit. If he can’t, walk him.”
As Martinez pointed out, Abrams batted .268/.343/.489 (in 89 games and 398 at-bats) in the first half of the season, but has struggled since the All-Star break, slashing .178/.243/.282 in 35 games and 148 at-bats.
“He’s struggled a lot since the All-Star break and we’re trying to get him going,” Martinez said.
“I think the biggest thing we have to do with him is understand he needs to slow down his foot speed. He’s really going to catch the ball. We need him to come back and get ready early and slow his feet down a little bit.”
“I’ve been wanting to do it for a while and now I thought, ‘Let’s try and bring him back and see if we can finish the season strong.’ A lot of teams are moving players around.”
Martinez said he expects Abrams to see opposing pitchers attack his teammates.Especially the left-handed guys in the lineup.) and will be better prepared for his turn at bat.
“I want him to focus on watching other guys at bat and spend a little bit of time watching what the pitcher is doing while he’s up to bat.
“We talked about it today, he can see some left-handers. [James] Wood and [José] Tena should bat in front of him and see what the pitcher is going to do to them.
“Hopefully he understands what he’s trying to do and how the ball is moving.”
If this move inspires Abrams and he performs well, he could end the year on a high.
“I think it’s going to be a positive for him. First of all, like I said before, the pressure to get on base first, to start something for the team, it’s definitely a lot of pressure,” Martinez acknowledged.
“Right now, I think the best thing for him is to move him down a little bit so he doesn’t feel any pressure. As we all know, he can hit, but getting him back in form and getting him to hit pitches is definitely going to help him. And like I said, once he’s in form again, we’ll move him up again.”